Jubilee: Agent of SHIELD
by BrightStar
Summary: Jubilee knew when she took that job with SHIELD her life would change. She just didn't know how much.
1. Chapter 1

Jubilee: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Summary: Jubilee knew when she took that job with SHIELD her life would change. She just didn't know how much.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Well, not much. And not anything associated with Marvel characters. (Other than my massive collection of comic books...)

Jubilee placed the last piece of paperwork in her out box and leaned back in her chair. Finally she had finished the fallout from that debacle in New Mexico. Next time Phil took on Norse Gods, she was gonna make him do his own damn paperwork. When he'd recruited her out of college, she was skeptical. She'd graduated from UCLA in International Relations. She figured with all her globe trotting with Logan, she should learn some diplomacy. Lord knows she'd had none as a teenager.

She'd been in California for 5 years when Nick had tracked her down. After what went down with the Church of Humanity, she had to get away from the X-Men for a while. She'd crashed and burned as an actress and decided to use the trust fund that Emma had set up for her to go to college. When Angelo returned to New York, she'd stayed in touch for a while, but the rest of Generation X never seemed to have time for her. Occasionally she heard from Paige with the latest gossip, but even that tapered off. Eventually the only one she kept in touch with was Emma. It hurt for a while to think that people she once thought of as family now couldn't even be bothered to make a phone call or respond to an e-mail. Logan didn't even keep in touch any more. He was too busy with all the different teams he was on. The man should learn to say no to memberships.

_Nick approached her outside her Advanced World Economics class her senior year. She was just leaving the lecture hall, peeling away from the side of the building as she got ready to hop on her longboard to get to her next class._

"_Miss Lee? A moment of your time please?"_

_Jubilee nearly paffed him in surprise. He startled her so much she almost gave herself away. She took a closer look at him and nearly snorted at him._

"_Hey Nicky, what's shaking? I've got class across campus, so if we could make this a mobile meeting, you can have as long as it takes to get there." she said._

_Fury walked over to her and they set off to her next class._

He had proceeded to fill her in on what SHIELD had been up to since her and Logan had run into them after that mission in Madripoor. She'd known Nick since she was a teenager and trusted him not to screw with her, so when he offered her a job with SHIELD, she took all of 5 seconds to think about it before saying yes. He told her she'd be working with a man named Coulson, but as his assistant, not out in the field. He wanted to keep her powers quiet, which was just fine with her. The world was still unsure about mutants and she still ran into small minded people occasionally.

That was two years ago. In between then and now, she'd met Tony Stark, learned about a hulk, done some espionage training and perfected her shot at the range. This latest dust up in New Mexico had her re-reading her Intro to Mythology textbook. If Norse gods were real, who was to say the rest of the worlds' pantheons weren't as well. It never hurt to be prepared.

She double checked her inbox and found nothing that couldn't wait until Monday. She'd been on the clock since 8 am and it was definitely time to skip out and grab some chow. She popped her head into her boss' office and said, "I'm heading out, Phil, you need anything?"

"No, Lee. I'm just finishing here and then I'm leaving as well. Got any big plans for the weekend?" he asked her.

"Yep, got me a date with my Netflix, we are gonna have some quality one-on-one time. Tasha said she might stop by to save me from myself, but other than that, nada. You?"

"I might go to the symphony. A friend got me tickets and since nobody is trying to take over the world tonight, I might just make curtain. I'll see you on Monday, Lee." he said with a wave to her.

Jubilee had stopped using her first name around the office after the third guy she'd punched in the face had laughed upon introduction. Fury just chuckled and started calling her Lee. Nobody expected a 5 foot nothing Asian girl to knock them on their ass, but after the first couple of agents went down, they knew they had to mind their manners around Agent Coulson's new assistant.

Jubilee put her computer on sleep mode, grabbed her jacket and headed for the door. Maybe she could get Natasha to spar with her on Saturday if she wasn't away on a mission. She could definitely use the workout. If not, maybe she could find a newbie to beat up on. Nick liked pitting the newbs against her as a good example of not underestimating your opponent. Jubilee took one last look at her office before walking out and heading for the elevator.

~~~~~~~~tt~~~~~~~~~

Jubilee walked into her office on Monday morning with a pleasantly mild ache in her muscles. Natasha was in town and able to spar with her both Saturday and Sunday afternoons. And after beating the snot out of each other they went out for drinks. Natasha filled Jubilee in on her current mission and regaled her with her latest mission with Clint Barton. Clint had been on that assignment in New Mexico that had caused her so much grief with paperwork.

After the incident with the Hulk, Jubilee had taken to pre-filling out some of her paperwork. It always seemed like the military thought they could handle a parahuman incident, but always ended up calling SHIELD in to clean up a mess they created. So when Norse gods decimated a small New Mexico town, all she had to do was pull up the aforementioned incident reports and fill in 'Puente Antiguo' and the basics of the operation, saving herself at least an hours worth of paperwork. This was one of the reasons why Phil liked her so much. She found more efficient ways of doing things.

Once she got the last of Clint's reports about what he had seen as Hawkeye, she could close the incident file on New Mexico and wait for the next big parahuman catastrophe to make its way across her already cluttered desk.

~~~~~~TT~~~~~~

Jubilee was in the gym sparring with Gunter. It had been a long day. First she'd had a meeting with Phil about what a major fuck up it had been when Steve Rogers, THE Captain America, had been revived from his bed of ice. Somebody had done some shoddy research and actually played radio records of a game Rogers had been in the States for! Seriously. Did nobody check their facts first? If Nick hadn't thought fast, the poor man would still be running around Manhattan without shoes on. Following that fantastic start to her day, Stark showed up to make her life hell. He just loved giving her as much grief as possible. The only time the man was even remotely tolerable was when Pepper was around. After several snotty comments about her work habits and how he knew several people, men and women, who he could set her up with, she'd finally kicked him out of her office. She was not interested in the kind of people Stark would set her up with. Thankfully she was able to spend the rest of the morning finishing her paperwork without further interruption.

Once she got back from lunch she had a meeting with Fury and Deputy Director Hill. Maria was nice, but kind of a tight ass. She always wanted it done strictly by the book, and if Jubilee knew anything, she knew that missions rarely went as planned. Sometimes you had to fly by the seat of your pants and improvise. That gawd-awfully boring meeting lasted 3 hours at which time Jubilee had taken off like a bat out of hell and headed for the gym. She'd worked her way through 2 new recruits and was just cooling off by sparring with Gunter when Nick walked in and signaled to her that he wanted to talk.

With a sigh she thanked Gunter for his time and went over to the bench that had her towel and bag. "What can I do for you, Nicky-poo? Please don't tell me you need me to babysit Tony again. Because if that's it, I'm gonna need a raise." She quipped.

"No, nothing like that, Agent Lee. In fact, I have a mission for you. One you are uniquely qualified for. Let's take a walk and I'll fill you in." Fury told her before setting off in the direction of her office.

~~~~~~TT~~~~~~

"What do you know about Genosha?" he asked.

Jubilee looked up at the question, a little surprised he had asked her. Fury was aware of her abilities, he had even sent her out with Phil on certain recruitment missions knowing she might be able to encourage other mutants into joining the agency.

"Well, I know it's a newly formed island nation, whose Prime Minister just declared it a homeland for all mutants. Even went so far as to declare normal humans persona non grata. All inhabitants of Genosha are mutants. About 20 years ago, there were rumors of human/mutant experimentations resulting in an instantaneous increase of the mutant population of that island.

The local government has been sending out invitations to known mutants encouraging them to relocate to the island. I have some...friends...that have received invitations."

Fury looked at her with a knowing eye. She could tell that he assumed she was talking about her friends at the Xavier Institute. He would be right. She'd gotten an email from Kitty telling her that the whole school got a formal letter from the Prime Minister extending the invitation and offering to open a branch of the school on the island. Storm had not been pleased, but she'd kept an open mind and an open dialogue with her students.

She looked up at Fury, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, there has been some suspicious activity lately. Mutants who've moved to Genosha unexpectedly cutting off all contact with friends and family. Normally this wouldn't be SHIELD jurisdiction, but we sent in a couple of undercover operatives and have been unable to contact them for more than 2 weeks. I am starting to get worried."

"What, exactly, do you want me to do?" she asked.

"I want you to mount a reconnaissance mission, which may lead to a rescue mission. I want you to do it because I'm hoping your previous experience at the Xavier Institute will give you a leg up on finding our people and getting them out if necessary." He gave her a look which she interpreted as imploring with a hint of approbation. He was remembering the last time her sent her out on a mission. She had barely made it out without serious injury. And when he called her on it, she just laughed and smirked at him from the infirmary.

"I hesitate to send you without backup, but currently all our available agents are either already imbedded in situations, or are already on the island incommunicado. You would be on your own, Lee. At least until I can pull some qualified backup for you. Are you up for this mission?"

"I can handle it, bossman. When do you want me to leave?"


	2. Chapter 2

Jubilee Agent of SHIELD, chapter 2

See chapter 1 for notes and disclaimers 

~~~~~~TT~~~~~~

Jubilee walked down the flight staircase, relieved at last to be off the airplane. After 22 hours either in a plane or in an airport, she was relieved to be on solid ground with fresh air surrounding her. After a quick stop by her apartment in the city to grab her luggage and passport, she booked a commercial flight to Genosha. It included 3 changes of planes on 3 continents.

~~TT~~

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The first thing she noticed was the normality of it all. She still had to go through Customs, still had to pick up her bags from the luggage carousel and still had to wait in line for a taxi to take her to her hotel in the city proper. The only noticeable difference being the Customs official had green skin and scales and her cabbie had four arms and a mohawk. The weather was beautiful, and if she didn't know any better, she might suspect that Ororo had a hand in it.

Since SHIELD was footing the bill for this excursion, she had decided to go the vacation route for her cover. See the sights, check it out and see if she wanted to make it permanent. At least that's what she'd tell anyone who asked. So she'd booked a room at the Hilton – Gold Coast Resort in Hammer Bay. It was located on the western coast of the island nation and all new arrivals were recommended to make their first stop a trip to the beach for sun and fresh air, according to the travel brochure. Once Jubilee checked in, she planned to do just that.

~~TT~~

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Jubilee got out of the cab at the Hilton – Gold Coast Resort. The building was impressive from the outside. Art Deco with a tropical flair. A doorman held open the door for her as she headed for the front desk to check in.

"Jubilation Lee, checking in." she said

The concierge looked up and smiled at her. She was a remarkable looking woman. Light orange, almost golden, fur covered her body with faint white and darker brown highlights across her face, arms and hair. Her long curly hair was semi-contained in a pony-tail, while the claws on her fingertips seemed to be tamed down to a practical manicure for typing. She pulled up Jubilee's reservation and quickly scanned her key card.

"Welcome to Genosha, Miss Lee. Your room is on the 17th floor overlooking our private beach. Feel free to take advantage of the resort's courtesy shuttles to take you anywhere in Hammer Bay. I highly recommend the shopping district. Please let us know if we can make your stay better in any way. And thank you for choosing the Hilton – Gold Coast Resort." With that said, the woman, whose name tag read "Lucia C." handed her the key card and signaled for the bellboy who looked to be at least 6 and a half feet tall and built like a linebacker. His name tag read "Mark H." and he didn't smile as he loaded her bags onto a luggage trolly and waited for her to lead the way to the bank of elevators.

~~TT~~

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Jubilee collapsed onto her king-sized bed upon entering her room after tipping the bell boy "Mark H."

Bell-_boy_ was definitely a serious misnomer. The dude could probably snap her in half one handed if so inclined. She'd like to see him go up against Piotr or Jimmy Proudstar. That would be a fight to behold.

She smiled to herself at the thought of her friends back home. She hadn't seen some of them since last Christmas. Since she was an orphan, she spent the holidays with her extended family, but it seemed like more and more she only saw them at major holidays. And she really missed the gang. She hadn't even seen Logan and Marie since Bobby and Kitty's house-warming party last year. SHIELD seemed to take up quite a bit of her time. Hmm...she definitely deserved to make the most of this reconnaissance vacation. At any rate, after traveling for 22 hours she knew she should take a nap, but the beach was calling her name. So she slipped into a tasteful electric blue bikini, pulled on a matching lightweight cover up, grabbed her key card and beach bag and headed for a lounge chair and a Mai Tai.

~~TT~~

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Jubilee had been on Genosha for 3 days before she was able to piece together a pattern. She'd blame it on jet lag for taking her so long to see. She saw the same 20-30 people, over and over again. The same hotel employees, the same cabbies, the same shop keepers, bartenders and beachgoers. There were others in the town, but those few kept popping up wherever Jubilee went. A few of them even made the effort to look different, but were recognizable to her trained eye.

She had been keeping an eye out for the two SHIELD agents Fury had sent in before her, but hadn't seen hide nor hair of either of them. She'd met Sally Blevins and Rusty Collins a couple of times, but never had any significant interaction with them. They seemed very vanilla. Followed all the rules and always filed their paperwork with her in a timely manner, so she had no real basis for interaction with either of them. Almost like they went out of their way to avoid her.

Sally was an all American; blue-eyed blonde, girl next door. While Rusty was a 6 foot 2 ginger who looked like he played basketball in college. They had gone on a few field missions with Tasha and Clint when the op called for couples, but each mission had actually gone well, with little to no bloodshed. Which, if you asked her, any mission that included Widow and Hawkeye that was devoid of blood was a miracle in and of itself. At the time, Jubilee had wondered why they were sent on those missions, but given her current mission, the answer was obvious. They were both mutants. At least that was one mystery solved.

So far she'd seen a guy with an eye-patch and gravity defying hair. A guy with what looked like burn scars on half his face, but otherwise seemed attractive enough. A girl with pink hair and bones growing out of her face and body at odd angles and even a guy with two heads. That one was a little trippy. But everyone seemed nice. A little too nice. And that was what set off her internal alarms. Everyone seemed to go out of their way to stay on her good side, to keep her from asking too many questions. So she decided it was time to be proactive. Start asking some questions. Make it seem like she was seriously thinking of immigrating instead of just vacationing. She'd start with the furry concierge, "Lucia C."

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It was surprisingly easy to make friends with Lucia. Turns out they had a lot in common. They had the same taste in music and both were former mallrats. While Jubilee was an orphan and only child, Lucia had a younger sister, Maria. She had two others, but they had died years ago. Lucia spoke of Carolina and Matteo with fondness. She said Maria was here on the island with her and worked at one of the dance clubs Jubilee had yet to visit. She'd been too busy using her evenings to scope out the rest of the town, trying to find a likely spot where the missing SHIELD agents might be kept.

The only place she hadn't been able to explore was a large mansion on a hill overlooking the bay. It almost looked like one of the old sugar plantations she'd seen on a school trip to New Orleans years ago. It was large with a veranda that seemed to wrap around the entire structure. Surrounded by a couple of acres of greenery. There was a token security fence, but no guards or dogs. It did seem to have surveillance cameras strategically placed around the property. She'd have to find time to do a more thorough looksie.

Lucia was taking her to the club her sister worked at to meet some more of the mutants that had immigrated to Genosha recently. Jubilee was hoping to find her lost SHIELD agents, but wasn't going to hold her breath. They were both too well trained to go off the grid like they had. Something must be wrong. But in the mean time, she'd go to the club and try to get some background on the island and the inside scoop from some newcomers.

~~TT~~

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~~TT~~ 

She should have known it was a trap. Especially after she started to get dizzy after her first drink. She was no lightweight. She learned the fine art of drinking from The Wolverine himself. She could drink Clint under the table. And had such fun doing just that. But one drink from the dance club had her feeling a little squiffy. She'd only just met a girl with green and white hair that was dancing with yet another brickhouse of a man that Lucia had introduced her to as Vertigo and Blockbuster. Seemed these two didn't go by their human names. Jubilee had just spotted the girl with bones growing out of her face when she started to feel dizzy. She excused herself from Lucia to find a ladies room before she passed out and made it to the back hallway when she stumbled in to the wall and held herself there. She looked behind herself in time to see a young Korean man walking behind her with the man she knew as Blockbuster at his side. The Korean man just looked at her with sad eyes as she passed out and slid down the wall.


	3. Chapter 3

Jubilee Agent of SHIELD chapter

Oops. Sorry folks, I thought I uploaded this already. So for today only, you get a two-fer. Enjoy!

See notes in chapter 1

~~~~~~TT~~~~~~

Jubilee came to in her underwear locked in a cage that reminded her of something a go-go dancer would get her groove on in. She appeared to be in an underground lair of some sorts. There was a bank of computers on one wall and what appeared to be a small chemistry lab against another. A third wall was filled with cages. Full of people. The wall next to that one held several hospital beds with a couple of people strapped to them. They had tubes hooked up to them and I.V. poles next to them. As she realized what had happened she got a sick feeling in her gut. Not only were the rumors of mutants disappearing true, but her worst fears were realized. Someone was experimenting on mutants.

Jubilee let that thought sit for a moment as she assessed her situation. She took stock of what she had. While they had stripped her down to her underwear, they hadn't taken her jewelry or her hair clip, so she had her lock picks and a small knife. She also had a homing device hidden in her bra. Unfortunately, she had no clothes, no phone and no shoes.

She decided to risk trying her powers to see if they had somehow nullified her. She tried to call up a small ball of plasmoids in her hands. It sparked and fizzled, but didn't solidify into a ball. Well, crap. She was down to her basic fireworks then. They'd managed to suppress her powers to the control she'd had as a teenager when she first got to the institute. Whoever 'they' were, they certainly knew what they were doing.

Meanwhile, she'd try to identify any of the people in the cages on the wall opposite of her. She was searching for her missing agents. She could see a woman with obvious Native American ancestry, near her was a small woman with short red hair who was cowering in the corner of her cage as close to the other woman as possible. Two blonds, a man and woman, were in adjacent cages. From where Jubilee was she could see that they were clearly siblings. The next cage held a teenage boy with long brown hair. He was laying on the mat on the far side of the cage. Next to him was another blonde. This one with short hair. She was hoping it might be one of her missing agents, but just as her hopes were starting to lift, the girl rolled over on her pallet on the floor of the cage. It wasn't Sally. This girl was too young. Barely out of her teens, if that.

There were three empty cages in between the blonde girl and the last occupant. This one was fully aware of Jubilee assessing the situation. It was another woman. But this one was a little more unique than the others. She was white, almost pure white. Her hair was white and incredibly curly, her skin was white with an almost iridescent sheen to it. Her eyes were a soft blue in her feline features, and her ears came to slight points. She watched Jubilee looking at her and when she caught her attention she smiled at Jubilee, showing her slightly pointed fangs. Jubilee gave her a slight smile and a small wave and went back to contemplating how she was going to get out of her cage and rescue these few mutants she seemed to have found.

~~TT~~

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~~TT~~

Around an hour after she woke up, Jubilee became aware of someone entering what she was referring to as 'The Lab'. A pale man in a white lab coat walked across the room to the three bodies strapped to the hospital beds. He checked their I.V.s and charts and entered some numbers into his computer. When he finished with that he looked up at Jubilee and spoke.

"Well, Miss Lee. What should I do with you? I haven't yet had any reliable data on a pyrokinetic of your capabilities. Should I start with you? Or should I just wipe your mind and send you on your way?" He spoke in a well modulated English accent. He looked up as he spoke, locking eyes with her. As he finished his question, she noticed his eyes flash red at the same time as a red diamond appeared in the middle of his forehead. As soon as he looked away, his eyes returned to normal and the diamond disappeared.

She pondered what he said for a moment before responding. "I think you need to release all these poor people before you get your ass handed to you by the big guns. You can't do this. You can't just abduct people and experiment on them! We have rights!" By the end of her speech, she was shouting down at him. As her emotions got more uncontrolled so too did her powers. Her hands started sparking. She clenched them into fists and tried to control her temper. She needed to conserve energy if she was going to rescue all these people.

"What you don't seem to understand, my dear, is that as soon as you set foot on my island, you became mine. Mind, body and soul."

~~TT~~

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~~TT~~

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaagggghhh!" Jubilee was screaming again.

The man, Dr. Essex he had said his name was, was testing her pain threshold with electrical shocks. This was day 2 of this treatment. He would gradually increase the voltage of the machine until she passed out from pain. He would repeat this twice a day, giving her just enough time to recover before starting again. Each session he would strap her to one of the hospital beds. He would then attach electrodes to her to measure her brain waves and take blood samples after each session.

He told her he was curious to see what would happen to a pyrokinetic if he introduced enough electricity into their systems. So far, all it had shown her, was what a giant ass-hat he was. In between sessions, Jubilee couldn't keep her mouth from running. She just wanted to see how far she could push the mad doctor with her snark.

But inside, she was practicing the meditation techniques both Logan and the Professor taught her. How to block the pain receptors of her brain. She focused her breathing when not taunting the mad scientist. She went through her psyche and closed the door on her pain; storing it for another day, keeping her from going out of her mind from the torture. If traveling with Logan taught her anything it was control. Usually she just chose not to exert it, but this time, this time she needed all the help she could get. Who knew when Doctor Electro over there would stop cranking the dial up. She needed to keep her wits about her if she was going to get out of here alive and as sane as when she arrived.

Jubilee closed her eyes and took a deep breath and with the latest wave of electricity, willed herself unconscious.

~~TT~~

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~~TT~~

When Jubilee was moved out of her cage and onto the hospital bed, the previous occupants of the hospital beds were put back in their cages. She couldn't see them now, but she knew one was a pretty red-head that reminded her of Jean, only younger, and one was a boy with brown hair and a strange scar around his left eye. Occasionally it would light up. Jubilee wasn't sure what that meant, but she hoped it was good.

Currently Dr. Trigger-finger was taking a break from using her as his personal voltage meter so she could breath easily. She focused on her meditation, trying to keep the muscle spasms from her last session from shaking her body too badly. She was so focused in her mind palace that she didn't notice the gasp from one of the cages and the flaring of light in the boy's eye. It wasn't until she felt a presence in her mind that she tried to look around and see where it was coming from. The boy widened his eyes and put his finger to his lips in the universal sign of 'keep your mouth shut'.

Jubilee closed her eyes and concentrated her thoughts, maybe she could communicate telepathically with this boy. She'd always scoffed when the Professor told her she had some latent telepathic talent, figuring he was just trying to get her to do her homework for his classes. She took a deep breath and mentally asked him, "_Can you hear me? What's your name?"_

She felt as much as heard his reply.

"_Nate. What's yours?"_

"_Jubilation, but call me Jubilee, or just Lee. Everyone does."_

"_Why can you hear me? Nobody else hears me. I can hear them, but they've never responded to me. I haven't been able to talk to anyone else in here, just you."_

"_Well, Nate, I was just thinking about that. I think it's because I have some telepathic ability, and you have even more than that. What can you do?"_

"_I can move things with my mind as well as hear people's thoughts. What can you do? Why is Dr. Essex torturing you like this? I'm not sure the others can take your screaming anymore. They are starting to break. I can't tell what he wants from you, his mind is closed to me."_

"_Well, Nate, I'll tell ya what the pasty goob wants. He's trying to break me. He wants to see if he can manifest a secondary mutation while at the same time breaking my mind. What he doesn't understand is crazier men than him have tried and failed. He's not gonna be able to break this fortune cookie open, I can tell you that much."_

Jubilee winced a little at the telepathic communication. She hadn't had to do it as much since she left the Institute and it always gave her a little headache.

"_I'm gonna have to start working on an escape plan for us though Natey-boy. I'm not sure how much more my body can take of this. I've got a back-up plan in place, but I'm not sure when it will arrive, so we might just be on our own. I'll let you know what I come up with. I'm gonna take a cat nap before Doctor Feelgood comes back for another round. Keep your head up, kiddo. We'll get out of this soon."_

And with that thought, she closed her eyes and relaxed herself to sleep.

~~TT~~

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At this point Jubilee had lost track of how many days she'd been at the mad man's mercy. She knew she was near her breaking point though. She could feel it. When she stopped crying out in pain, he just made a humming sound and made of note of it on his chart and kept cranking up the volts. She was pretty sure she'd been here long enough for her to miss her check in date though, so hopefully SHIELD would send in the big guns. Fury knew if she missed two of her scheduled check-ins that she was in trouble.

She had talked to Nate a couple of times a day, just to reassure the kid that she was fine. She wasn't quite fine, but she would be once she got out of this mad scientist's lair. She was still contemplating what course of action she should take when Professor Crazypants walked in with his clipboard again.

"I have to say, Doc, I'm not a fan of the customer service in this joint. I'm gonna have to leave a bad review on Yelp. Seriously, could I get some room service up in here? Oh! And schedule me a mani/pedi for this afternoon." She quipped as he set up his torturous electrodes. As he attached each one, she felt a spark coming off her skin. She wondered in he'd just rubbed a cat, or maybe scuffed his shoes on the carpet outside. In any case, a small spark emitted with each placement.

"Well, Miss Lee. Today is the day, I think. We are going to find out what you are truly made of, my dear."

"Don't get your hopes up, jackass." she replied.

He just smiled at her and turned the knob all the way up.

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Jubilee opened her mouth in a silent scream. She could feel the electricity coursing through her body, she could feel it building up, she shot Nate a silent warning before taking down the walls in her mind palace and releasing all the pain she had been containing within its walls. She focused it like she focused her power and released it all as one enormous pulse.


	4. Chapter 4

Jubilee Agent of SHIELD chapter 4

Jubilee regained consciousness when an explosion went off nearby. She could hear Nate shouting for her. She opened her eyes and looked around. The lab was a disaster area. The computer bank was fried, she was sure the chemical lab on the other side of the room was burning based on the smells that were wafting her direction. She looked down at herself and she was surprised to see she was no longer strapped down to the bed. She needed to get up and out of here. She looked over to the wall of cages. They seemed to be relatively intact, now she just had to get them open.

She hopped off the bed and nearly collapsed. Apparently her body was still not happy with her, she better be a little more careful for the moment. She made her way across the wall, dodging falling debris and climbing over fallen beams. She could see a little bit of sky peeking through the smoke, which was getting heavier. She better hurry.

Jubilee grabbed a couple pieces of loose metal pipes, small enough to do her bidding on the cage doors. Once she found the rhythm for getting the locks loose, she was able to unlock the cages pretty quickly. As she went to each cage door, she kept looking for her missing agents and was happily surprised when she found them in one of the cages that had been empty before.

She gave them each a small smile before moving down the wall and releasing the rest of the prisoners. As Jubilee gathered them all around her she scouted possible escape routes. She found a set of stairs behind where the wall of computers were before they exploded and sent everyone in that direction. As the twelve of them made their way out into the daylight, she felt a slight hum at the back of her mind and knew it for the touch of a telepath. It was a familiar cool balm to her battered mind. She grinned up at the sky as an SR-71 Blackbird descended into the area around what appeared to be a large plantation house.

Jubilee herded her charges towards the lowering gangplank. As it opened she saw a familiar body encased in inappropriate white leather. She chuckled at the sight and spoke to her former mentor.

"How's it hanging, Frosty? Decide to take a quick vacay? I don't recommend these accommodations, the service sucks royally." Jubilee said with a smile.

"As usual, Jubilation, we have come to collect our delinquent and return her to the proper authorities. You know if you wanted to see us more often all you had to do was pick up a telephone. No need to stage rescue missions." The beautiful blonde woman replied.

Jubilee just gave her a quick shoulder squeeze and a grin and got everyone on board. She was sure explanations were in order.

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Jubilee was sitting in a briefing room two days later giving her report to Director Fury, Deputy Director Hill and Agent Coulson. The X-Jet had taken her and the others to the institute. And after she got cleaned up and checked out, she put in a call to her bosses.

Turns out SHIELD had no way to rescue her and the others. They were blocked by the World Security Council citing that it was a private government matter and they could not interfere without creating a world wide incident. Fury had argued with them for hours while Maria went behind his back and called the X-Men. Emma had immediately headed for Cerebro and began searching for her signature. They were already in the general vicinity of Hammer Bay when an explosion rocked the entire town. The house on the hill, belonging to a Dr. Nathaniel Essex, had just exploded. The town's emergency services were trying to get up to the estate to help but couldn't get past the security fence. While they worked on that the Blackbird dropped its cloaking and picked up her wayward children.

Jubilee was just relieved the mission was over. As a bonus she was able to recover Agents Blevins and Collins. Turned out Sally was the one responsible for all the people in the cages surviving Jubilee's explosion. Her power allowed her to create a force field around them and protect them from the blast. While Rusty used his powers to keep the fire damage to a minimum. Seemed that as soon as Jubilee had caused the explosion, whatever Essex was using to dampen the powers of the captive mutants went offline and they were able to use their powers.

While Jubilee was in the Professor's office on a conference call with Nick and Maria debriefing them on the mission and the current condition of the mutant captives, the others that she had rescued from the Isle of Dr. Essex were in the med-lab getting checked out by Hank. Of the eleven she had saved, 6 of them were minors. But of those 6, only two of them, the siblings, had parents worried for them. Once Hank gave them a clean bill of health, Kitty would help them contact their parents. Seems like they were from some old coal town in Kentucky.

The person that gave them the most pause though, was the girl who looked like a young Jean Grey. Emma made sure to send a message ahead to the Institute to warn the staff of the look-a-like. With Jean gone, there was no need to upset anyone or scare the girl, who's name turned out to Madelyne Pryor. She had been on a camping trip with her folks in Alaska when she was taken. She didn't remember much before that though. The likeness to old photos of Jean were uncanny. She even had similar powers to Jean, having a slight touch of telepathy, but no telekinesis.

The others were Rahne Sinclair, the young redhead was a wolf-shifter, Danielle Moonstar, who could create illusions of a persons greatest fear or dream, Julio Ricter, who could create seismic energy, Tabitha Smith, who's powers of creating glowing explosive orbs was similar to Jubilee's own pyrokinesis, Vanessa Carlyle, who was a shapeshifter with power mimicry abilities, and then there was Nate. Nate Grey who had telepathy and telekinesis just like Jean. There was even a slight resemblance between him and Maddie, but Jubilee just brushed that off as a tired mind.

She gave Fury her abbreviated report on the mission and told him she'd have the full report as well as the accompanying paper work as soon as she got cleared to leave the Institute and made it back to HQ. With Fury's parting words of, "Good job, Agent Lee," and Hill's nod of farewell, Jubilee logged off the computer and sat back in the Professor's chair and heaved a sigh of relief. After this mission from hell, she was gonna need a girl's day with Darcy to de-stress. She'd have to give her friend a call as soon as she got the all clear from Hank. And with that thought, she heaved herself up out of the chair and made her way down to the basement Med-bay.

~~TT~~

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"Ow! Jesus, Hank! How many blood samples do you need? Seriously. I just got done being experimented on. Give a girl a break!" Jubilee exclaimed as Dr. McCoy removed the tourniquet from her arm.

"That was the last one my Dear Jubilation. With what you have told me of your time in that lab, I'm concerned about any lasting effects on your body and mutation. The magnitude of the explosion that resulted in your escape reminds me of when you first joined the Institute and your limited control. I'd like to run some scenarios in the Danger Room to test your powers. Since you left us to continue your education I don't believe you've had much of a chance to really let loose. I'd like to test your current levels against what we had before you left us."

"No prob, Big Blue. But can it wait til tomorrow? I'm beat, and I need to check on the other agents and the kids I brought back with me. How's about we schedule it for tomorrow 'round 1?" and with that Jubilee reached up and gave him a peck on the check, a wink and a wave and she was out the sliding doors of the Med-Bay.

~~TT~~

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Jubilee stood outside of the Danger Room doors waiting for Hank to give her the signal to enter. The previous night had been wonderful. After ascertaining that all of her charges were as healthy as to be expected following their experience she left them under the watchful eyes of her X-Friends. She indulged in a long hot bath and then crashed in her old room.

After a blissful 7 hours of sleep, she rolled out of bed and took stock of herself. She felt reenergized. She usually needed upwards of 13 hours of uninterrupted sleep for that to happen, so she was mildly surprised that in nearly half the time she felt so great. Since she was already awake she thought she'd indulge in her morning yoga. Usually post-mission she skipped it for about a week, but she was feeling so great and she knew she'd need the extra relaxation to prepare herself for her Danger Room session. It didn't matter that she'd been away for 5 years, she still got a little nervous before a power level test.

As she moved through the poses Tasha taught her for extra flexibility, she thought about everything that had happened in the last year since she signed on with SHIELD. If she weren't already used to the boatloads of crazy from hanging in the X-Mansion, finding out there really were aliens and other worlds out there might just have her taking the first train to crazy town. It was amazing more people didn't have nervous breakdowns from working at SHIELD, but she assumed they screened for that sort of thing before hiring.

Once she finished her poses, she shot off a quick text to Phil. She assumed Fury would give Coulson a sit-rep on her mission and current location, but she was sure he'd appreciate hearing it for himself. While she was at it, she sent a quick text to her bestie Darcy. Even though it was still somewhere in the ass-crack of dawn, Darcy kept scientist hours so she might still be awake from the night before. She let Darcy know she was back Stateside and could use a girls day sometime later in the week if the younger girl could arrange an alternate sitter for her charge. Seriously, you would think a grown ass woman would be able to take care of herself, but apparently when SCIENCE! was involved apparently that was asking too much. In any case Darcy would let her know when she could get away and they'd make a day of it in the City.

Jubilee spent the day before her Danger Room session checking in with the former captives, her fellow Agents and the Institute staff she hadn't seen in years. Most of them had come down and said hello when she arrived, but gave her her space. She checked in on Sally and Rusty. Both of them were still sleeping in the guest room they had been given. They'd refused separate rooms, wanting the comfort and safety of knowing where their partner was over privacy. She spent the remainder of her morning wandering around the grounds re-familiarizing herself with her old home. At one point Rogue and Kitty joined her, and filled her in on the coming and goings of various members of their extended families.

All too soon it was time to head to the basement for her session with Hank and the torture room of DOOM. She went back to her room and changed into some old work-out clothes since she had left her SHIELD issued catsuit at home before the mission to Genosha.

So here she was waiting for the door to open. There was a loud beep and the doors slid open, she took a deep breath and stepped inside.

~~TT~~

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"Well, Jubilation, it seems you have been blessed with a secondary and even tertiary mutation." Hank McCoy told her as she walked into the observation room above the Danger Room proper.

"Wow Blue, you're breaking out the big words awfully early. What's the sitch?" she asked him as she towelled off her face and hair. He had set the setting high enough for her to work up a decent sweat. She couldn't remember the last time she had been able to really cut loose.

"To be honest my dear, your mutation seems to have taken a dramatic turn. Previously you could produce your simple fireworks, then larger plasmoids. Now, you seem to be able to produce an explosive form of electrical current as well as larger plasmoids and smaller 'paffs'. I'd like to test your control of your plasmoids as well. See if you can control the shape and detonation level. It also seems that your telepathy that the Professor had theorized you had has come to the forefront. I was monitoring your beta-waves during your session and you are exhibiting levels similar to Jean when she first came to the school. I know you are busy with work for SHIELD, but I would like you come down once a month so we can monitor your progress with your changing powers. I'm sure we could get Director Fury to authorize it as further training." He told her with his usual smile.

Jubilee just looked at him a little slack jawed. Secondary AND tertiary mutations? What the hell had that bastard Essex done to her? Who knows what the creepazoid had done to her while she was unconscious. It was definitely something she'd need to give further thought to. Fury was gonna flip his nut when he found out. Oh well.

"Whatever you think is best Doc. I'll see what I can get him to schedule. Meanwhile, I'm healthy enough to head back to work, right? I've got a shit load of paperwork after the shit storm that went down. I'm not looking forward to it."

"Indeed Jubilation. You're better than fine. It seems that your tertiary mutation also came with a limited healing ability. I postulate it has something to do with the electrical energy you are producing, but even the minor wounds you suffered during the explosion seem to be healed. You are nowhere near the capabilities of our dear friend Logan, but anything short of a broken bone or gunshot wound will probably cease to trouble you." He told her.

Again, Jubilee took a minute to process that. She was sure that would come in handy working for a shadowy government agency. With a shrug and a wink, she blew Hank a kiss and sauntered out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Jubilee Agent of SHIELD chapter 5

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Two days later Jubilee found herself back at her desk filling out the crapload of paperwork resulting from her trip to Genosha. At least it was only her own. Agents Collins and Blevins filled out and filed their own mission reports and hazardous duty paperwork. She was just signing the last piece when Natasha poked her head in her office.

"Lee. You up for a workout? I could use a sparring partner." she asked in her quiet way.

"Oh, Tash. You have no idea. I've been stuck behind this desk all day filling out a craptackular amount of paperwork. I could definitely use a physical outlet, and since unlike you, I don't have access to super cute fellow spies to get down and dirty with, I'll settle for sparring with you." she told the other woman with a wink.

"фейерве́рк, you will pay for that on the mat." She smirked at the other woman.

Jubilee just grinned at her and shrugged her shoulder as she logged out of her computer screen, put her pile of paperwork in her out box, and grabbed her bag. The two agents walked side by side down the hallway towards the locker room to change.

"Care for a side wager, Nat?" Jubilee asked the red-head as she changed out of her catsuit into some yoga pants and a sports bra tank top.

"What did you have in mind, little one? You know as soon as we start warming up, an audience appears." Natasha replied.

"Oh, nothing much, how about first to three pins or yields buys dinner for the winner?"

"Certainly. I feel like Italian tonight. Maybe from that place down in the Village?"

"You sound awfully sure of yourself, Tash. Don't get cocky," she replied with a grin and a wink.

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Two hours later, the pair called their sparring to a halt. They each had a win and couldn't seem to win a second match so they called it a draw. With a groan of disappointment from the spectators, they grabbed their gear and headed back to the locker room for showers.

Since the sparring ended in a draw, the two decided to go out anyway and make Clint pay. They collected the archer on their way out of HQ and grabbed a cab to the Village. Over a bottle of wine and some truly incredible seafood fettuccine, Jubilee filled her fellow agents in on her time in Genosha. Natasha and Clint were two of the few people at SHIELD who knew about her past and her powers. So she felt comfortable telling the two master spies what went down while she was on 'vacay'.

"I knew you were talented, фейерве́рк, but I never considered the talents you possessed could change. Is that usual?" Natasha asked her.

"Well, it's not unusual in extreme situations. And it was definitely an extreme situation. I'm not sure yet just how much has changed. I haven't yet been in a situation where I might need to test it. I know I feel more energized than before, it's like I can feel it crackling just below the surface. I'm definitely having to employ all those relaxation techniques we've worked on, Tash."

Throughout this speech Clint was quietly sipping his wine. But as she finished talking and propped her head in her hand, he spoke up.

"I think the way you gotta look at it kiddo is as a blessing in disguise. You've basically powered up without having done any damage to people or places you care about. Now, you're another secret weapon if needed. I'd just make sure Fury keeps it under his non-existent hat. Having you as an Ace in the hole could save our butts one of these days." he told her with a wink.

Jubilee gave him an exasperated smile and finished her wine.

~~TT~~

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A week later Fury called her into his office. She walked in after waving to his secretary, Anita.

"Agent Lee, please take a seat." he said.

She looked around his large office and noticed Phil over by the window. Her boss was sporting a blank face, but his underlying thoughts, which she could all of a sudden hear, were laced with worry for her and excitement.

"Jubilee, first off, I'm glad there were no lingering injuries after your recent mission to Genosha. I've finished reading the reports from yourself and Agents Blevins and Collins, and let me tell you, I'm concerned. While you rescued 9 other mutants that had been held captive, there are still an untold number of mutants that are still missing and unaccounted for. We suspect that the mansion in Hammer Bay was but one of Essex's laboratories. Unfortunately, the World Council deems it too dangerous for SHIELD to mount a rescue operation, as well as being out of our jurisdiction. I'd like to be kept abreast of any chatter you come across though, through your contacts."

He gave her a hard look to show her he meant her contacts within the X-Men. She could almost hear his underlying subtext from his thoughts, though his mind was more shielded than Phil's.

She wondered what would happen if she lowered her psychic shields a little, just to do a surface reading off Fury's thoughts. She didn't learn much, but what she did startled her. She was careful to keep her face neutral. She didn't want anyone outside of the Institute to be aware of her burgeoning telepathy. She didn't even tell Clint and Natasha at dinner the other night, keeping the sharing of her powers to strictly her offensive powers. She turned her attention back to Nick as he started speaking again.

"What do you know about the _Avengers Initiative,_ Agent Lee? I'm going to have Coulson read you into the program. I want you involved in recruitment. Now that Captain America is awake and adjusting to society I want to put together a team. And I want you to be the SHIELD Liaison. Read up on your subjects, Lee. I want a full rundown on each possible target. Dismissed."

~End

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AN: Thanks so much to all of you who reviewed and followed this fic. I'm so glad so many people enjoyed it. There will be a sequel as well as companion pieces. It won't be super soon though. Thanks for all the support! :D


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